Blog

£10k Oxfordshire pub makeover includes refreshed conservatory

The conservatory function room at The Butcher’s Arms in Sonning Common, Oxfordshire has been renovated as part of a £10,000 makeover.

According to henleystandard.co.uk, a couple took over the running of the Brakspear-owned pub, submitting a three-year plan to the firm and putting in the investment themselves.

After receiving the keys to the property in February, Ellie Gallagher and fiancé Rob Blues began working on their new venture. Just over five weeks of renovation work saw the conservatory and three main bar areas completely restored. If the pair wanted to control light coming into the glass-fronted space, they could install window shutters.

The move into pub management is a fairly significant step for the engaged couple, who previously both worked in senior positions at supermarket giant Tesco but left to pursue something “more gratifying and meaningful”.

“Having spent months looking at various pubs and breweries, we eventually stumbled upon The Butcher’s Arms back in December. It ticked all the boxes for us from the start – a community local with a large beer garden and children’s play area set in a beautiful village,” said Ms Gallagher.

When new operators move into a pub they will often need to spend money on building up the establishment’s reputation again, which will often have been diluted in the final months of its previous ownership.

Describing his renovation of the Grantham pub The Ropsley Fox, owner Dave Smith told granthamjournal.co.uk that the process of redeveloping a place that had been in a bad way has been “great fun”.